Friend has a creepy crush on me... what can I do???

I am 16 and I have this friend that has had a huge crush on me since 2 years now. We both go to the same school, and we met back in 2015 (let's call her "M"). We used to be pretty close before, but ever since she began to like me, we got more and more distant. Here is what led up to this problematic situation.

When I came out to her, she took it slightly badly, saying "are you sure that you want to stay that way your whole life?". She thankfully now is more accepting, but she still claims that she "feels weird to pronounce the word "gay" out loud". This school year, I also got really close with one of the new students in our year (let's call her "P"), and we are best friends now, but I don't think that M likes P that much.

The thing is, M always copies me, whether it is from posting something on instagram with a very similar caption, or literally copying every single one of my hobbies. I have told her numerous times in the past to not be so clingy (of course I tried to tell her in the nicest way possible), and the last time that I told her, I told her in a more cold and direct way, because she just doesn't respect my boundaries anymore. After I told her that I did not see her as a close friend, we talked about it on facebook messenger, and as soon as I told her that I don't want to be as close anymore, she began listing all of her "hobbies" like learning Japanese, dancing, listening to j-pop (which are precisely all of my hobbies), seemingly trying to show me that we share common things.

I did not believe her as she has never ever even talked about her listening to j-pop or learning Japanese, and I asked her questions about my favourite band, but she didn't know how to answer them (even though she claimed to listen to them a lot)...

Sorry for listing so many things, but she also very evidently copies my best friend, P. P is also gay, and she is FTM transgender (but has not transitioned yet), and on multiple occasions, I have caught M trying to also claim having the same interests as P. She even once said that if her religion would let her, she would be lesbian and would want to transition to a man. (If it is true, then I would be very supportive of M, but I strongly doubt that that's the case!)

Finally, she is a very "touchy" person and constantly invades my personal space. She follows me absolutely everywhere I go, and she has on two occasions placed her hands on the upper part of my leg (and was "patting" my leg for a few seconds) when we were sitting on the floor in sports class to listen to the teacher. I just feel very uncomfortable around her, from her surprising unwanted hugs, to her obsessive behaviour, "accidently" sending me love hearts on my facebook posts...

Sorry if this was very lengthy, but I have tried multiple times to distance myself from her, but she is very dramatic and sensitive, and all of my friends (and even my mom) tell me to stop hanging out with her. I don't know what to do, because she is constantly around me! Thank you for your advice.

 

Thank you, my friends and I were also thinking the same thing. She is definitely not mean at all! In fact, she can be really kind but like you said, she needs to find her identity. I know that she enjoys watching tv series, so I'll try and have a discussion with her about that and try to find more of her hobbies so that she can feel like she lives life as herself and not a copy of others. Thank you again!